Pages

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Ripped: A Jack the Ripper Time-Travel Thriller
by Shelly Dickson Carr

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It’s difficult to take a legendary villain, whose story has been told, retold, dissected, scrutinized and ficitionalized and breathe new life into it. But that is exactly what Shelly Dickson Carr did with Ripped, her creative version of the tale of hideous killer, Jack the Ripper. In the present day, young Katie, a descendent of Lady Beatrix Twyford, one of the Ripper’s victims, travels back in time to the summer of 1888 when Jack the Ripper terrorized White Chapel London. She wanted to save Lady Beatrix, catch the villain and unmask his identity!

We all know Jack the Ripper is a brutal and violent topic, Ms. Carr has concentrated on allowing us to feel the history involved, smell the scents of the London of that era, see the sights and sounds of life in the nineteenth century. As the book is directed toward young adults, she has spared the reader the graphics of the crimes and what the victims endured at the hands of this sickening and demented person, instead focusing on what young Katie experiences through her travel into the past.

If you are looking for gore, foregoing a well-written piece of historical fiction, pass this by. If you’re looking to be taken back in time through the eyes of youth, FOR the eyes of youth, you will love this read! I did!

A copy of this book was provided by NetGalley and New Book Partners in exchange for my honest review.